England have played disciplined and controlled football to beat Samoa 30-10 in the third match of the Test triple header in Campbelltown.
They had a dream start to the match, capitalising on a strong hit by second-rower Elliott Whitehead that forced a Samoan mistake in the first set.
A James Graham offload created second phase play and prolific Leeds try-scoring winger Ryan Hall scored out wide. Halfback Luke Gale converted and it was 6-0 after three minutes.
England added a penalty in the 29th minute after dominating field position for much of the half, and then scored their second try two minutes before half-time when Luke Gale put fullback Stefan Ratchford into a gap and he stepped inside Samoan fullback Peter Mata’utia to score under the posts.
Samoa needed to hit back early in the second half and they did when Joey Leilua barged his way over from close range in the 43rd minute.
That made it 14-6, but the English halves Luke Gale and Kevin Brown split Samoa up the middle ten minutes later and hooker Josh Hodgson backed up to score under the posts.
Anthony Milford then gave the pro-Samoan crowd some hope when he scored a soft try with 14 minutes to go.
However, England steadied the ship and scored two tries in the last five. First it was James Graham going over after exploiting some weak Samoan line defence, and big winger Jermaine McGillvary iced the match on the hooter when he scored off a Kevin Brown chip kick.
Samoa were disjointed in attack, and their kicking game was poor. England deserved their win.
Final score
England 30
Samoa 10
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